The full name of this is: 'a traditional coffee shop's pizza toast-style' Chicken Ramen. It's meant to taste like the kind of half-assed cheese on toast you'd find on the menu at a little cafe in Japan.
Listen, I have nothing against places to order good coffee. Why anyone is still ordering 'pizza toast' at coffee shops over here, I have no idea. They get the toast right, but if you think a tiny square of processed cheese over ketchup on bread is an acceptable excuse for 'pizza'... you've been in Japan too long.
Anyway.
So, 'fess up, I hear you cry. What the hell was I expecting from an instant noodle pot like this?
I'll tell you: tomato noodle soup.
And to skip the rest of the review and spare you the wait, that's pretty much what I ended up with.
To be fair, the soup wasn't a shock. It's a big cup (it says 'BIG' all over the cup), and the 'fill up to here' water line was higher than I expected. Maybe I should've put less hot water in on purpose...
There's a decent amount of seasoning hiding under the lid, and some real cheese cubes! More than 2 real cheese cubes! It's been a while since I've seen a pack of those in the wild. I should buy cheese curry Cup Noodles more often.
Taking a deep breath would've put half the flavour powder up my nose, but it was a strong savoury mix of chicken and tomato. When the toppings cover all your bases, you're most of the way there. I could see a lot of tomato red powder, and those trademark darker Chicken Ramen noodles underneath. I felt a bit more confident that the end result wasn't going to taste watered down.
Like many other cup noodles, a lot of the flavour's in the added oil. In this case: pizza toast-style 'finishing touch' oil. It was bright orange. My brain went 'hey, more tomato!' It works.
Adding the oil gave the soup that extra tomato kick. The 'chicken' part of Chicken Ramen got completely lost in the mix, somewhere behind the melted cheese, which was a shame. Plain ol' Chicken Ramen soup noodles are pretty good by themselves.
BUT... weirdly enough... I could taste the 'toast' bit of 'pizza toast' in this. And by that... I mean it tasted like I'd somehow managed to burn instant noodles.
It isn't bad overall! It's no tomato-curry fusion Cup Noodle, that's for sure. I think I've mentioned the Cup Noodle enough times now that you all know where my true loyalties lie.
Verdict: 6/10. Coffee shops should stick to coffee, and Chicken Ramen needs to stick to Chicken Ramen.